Anger and Authority
by Alexander-Crossover
Summary: Part 2 of Family Journeys: The Cardcaptor Saga. Lloyd arrives in Regina in order to resupply but shortly after he arrives he meets Alex, a young fox who is much like in himself, and who has an incredible temper.
1. Another Like Me

**Anger and Authority**

Chapter 1: Another Like Me

It had been a week since Lloyd had parted company with Madison and Julian and he had finally arrived at Regina. Unlike his first attempt to travel by foot, Lloyd had not had any problems surviving this trip because he knew more about the world he was in and also thanks to the money that Julian had given him, which he still had plenty of, which allowed him to afford the supplies he needed to survive. Surprisingly Kero had not blown their cover on this trip so far which meant aside from the stares he got from his odd appearance, the trip had been relatively uneventful.

At the moment Kero was asleep in his backpack at the moment; the backpack was devoid of food as they had eaten the last of it for lunch a couple hours ago. Knowing he'd have to get supplies here, and considering it was already the mid afternoon, Lloyd decided that he'd try and find a place to stay for the night. Not having anything better to do for the moment, he decided to look around the city for a bit.

After a while of wandering, and receiving a few odd looks, though less than he had gotten in other towns; the bear wandered for a while until he found himself in a relatively empty part of the city.

"Considering what time of day it is, and the fact that no one is around, this must be a residential area. Huh?" Lloyd caught wind of people yelling a short distance off. Deciding to investigate, he followed the sounds of them yelling and eventually he could pick out what they were saying.

"Take that!"

"That's what you get for what you did!"

"Just try and beg for mercy!"

It was apparent to anyone, especially Lloyd that the people shouting were ganging up on someone. It because even more obvious when he rounded and alley corner and found half-a-dozen people surrounding and attacking someone, who was obscured from view. Feeling a strong desire to aid the suffering person, Lloyd raised his voice.

"Hey, what are you doing!" the small group promptly turned, one of them, a muscular teenager, said.

"Look, another one."

"He must be this guy's friend, get him!" Without knowing why, the group charged at Lloyd. Most would have been frightened by this, but the years of training Lloyd had been through meant he was well prepared for this sort of situation. When the first boy came at him, Lloyd dodged and delivered a swift punch to his chest, bowling him over, the next one came in lower and Lloyd tripped his up with a low kick. The next two came at him together, Lloyd ducked and knocked them down but striking their legs with his outstretched arms.

Seeing how easily the newcomer took down their friends, the last two stopped trying to attack and instead one of them shouted.

"Let's get out of here I don't want to deal with this little freak." Though the thugs were in pain, Lloyd's assault had caused no permanent harm or left any marks and the six people quickly ran off.

"That was boring now let's see how this victim of theirs is doing." Lloyd was in for a major surprise when he saw the victim, who was standing up and dusting himself off, because it was a small red fox with a heart shaped nose on the end of his muzzle, species and color aside, he looked just like Lloyd. Wondering if this was what his sense had led his here for, Lloyd walked over to the fox.

"Are you alright?" Lloyd asked. What he received was a snap from the fox.

"I'm fine! I could have taken care of them in a just a couple moments. I had them right where I wanted them." Lloyd was both surprised, and ticked at the fox's attitude.

"Really, from the looks of it you were their punching bag until I came along," Lloyd replied, trying to keep the anger out his voice.

"Well you could have just kept moving," the fox looked up at Lloyd, "you sort of look like me, who are you anyways?"

"My name is Lloyd Terada, and who are you?"

"It's Alex Kitun," the red fox replied.

"How did you get like that?" Lloyd asked.

"If you mean like you then how should I know? I've been like this as long as I can remember."

_'My father said that I would find others like me, I bet that Alex here is one of the ones he was talking about,'_ Lloyd thought to himself. Considering that Alex seemed uninterested in continuing the conversation, Lloyd turned and walked away. Alex noticed this and said, rather calmly.

"Do you have a place to stay?"

"No, I'm new here in Regina," Lloyd replied.

"Then why not come and stay with me, I've got a lot of space." Lloyd smiled, maybe Alex wasn't so bad after all.

The walk to Alex's home was uneventful and silent as the two of them refrained from talking. When they arrived, Lloyd noted that the house was in a fairly good neighbourhood on the corner of a street that was near a school, a fire department, and a couple of convenience stores. The house itself was situated on a wide rounded corner of a street called Knight Crescent and had the number 15 in gold lettering next to the door, which was situated about a meter off the group on the wall with stairs leading up to a small front deck in front of the door.

Once they reached the door, Alex pulled some keys out of his pockets and unlocked it before letting the two of them in. Before they entered, they heard the boom of thunder from the west and they both looked in the direction of the sounds, seeing dark clouds rapidly coming to cover what was currently a clear sky over their heads.

"'The Land of the Living Skies' strikes again," Alex said, a bit miffed. Lloyd felt a tingle in the back of his head, the kind he felt whenever a Clow Card was nearby. Ignoring it for the moment he asked.

"The Land of the Living Skies?"

"It's the motto of the Province of Saskatchewan, it means that our weather patterns can be quite random, especially in the summer. We better get inside before the storm starts."

The inside of Alex's house was sparsely furnished, the living room (which the front door lead straight into) only had a couch which was under three large windows each divided by a metal bar, a coffee table the looked like some sort of chest and a fairly large television situated on top of a small but sturdy table.

"I have cable so we can keep ourselves occupied for a while," Alex said, but Lloyd wasn't listening, instead he was staring out the large windows over the couch at the incoming storm, he knew there was a Clow Card behind it and he hoped Kero had sensed it as well.


	2. Two Cards in a Night

Chapter 2: Two Cards in a Night

Alex flipped on the Television using the remote control and immediately flipped to a channel that was showing what was on all of the other channels. Lloyd set his backpack on the couch and was only half paying attention as his mind was still on the Clow Card he was sensing outside. He turned back to the TV for an instant and caught the title of the show they were watching as "The Simpsons."

Lloyd did his best to watch the shows Alex flipped to every half and hour, but his mind was on other things, as a result the two of them didn't talk much to each other. Lloyd stared back out the window as the clouds overhead had covered the sky, which was dark by this point anyways. At that moment there was a bright flash from outside, a loud *BOOM* and the power went out. The two of them sat in the darkness for a moment before Alex swore aloud, Lloyd sighed and stood up.

"Well now what should we do?" Lloyd asked.

"Maybe you could tell me about yourself," Alex suggested, "and how you ended up interrupting my fight earlier."

"I think you mean 'saved' you," Lloyd said, "but I might as well tell you my story. I was born in the north, in what I've discovered is called the Boreal Forest. I was a normal bear for a short time but when I was a cub my parents were killed by a monster and my father, Koran Terada, saved me from whatever that thing was and raised me as his own. He taught me a lot of things, mostly martial arts and swordplay." Lloyd's voice became a bit heavy at this point, "He died a few months ago, I started heading south that same day. I met a couple friends in Saskatoon who got me clothes, money, and taught me about the modern world, since I was literally raised in a cave. I ran into you and those thugs purely by accident, so why were they beating on you."

Alex's eyes narrowed in anger, "if you _must_ know, they were coming after me because I attacked one of their gang members a few months ago."

"A few months, why would they wait so long?" Love Heart was perplexed.

"I'd rather not say," Alex decided to change the subject, "if you want to know my life story I'll tell you."

"Ok, go ahead," Lloyd sat down next to the red fox.

"I don't know much about my past, except running from something, I don't know what exactly. What my grandparent's told me was they found me on the edge of the city when they were returning from a vacation about 13 years ago. They raised me in a house elsewhere in the city for 12 years, then they died, I've been living off their savings ever since, since they were quite wealthy in life" Alex paused.

"Why do you call them your grandparents, did you know your real parents?" Lloyd asked.

"No, I didn't, but they were old and calling them just my parents seemed weird."

"So how did they die," for no apparent reason, Alex suddenly got very angry.

"They died of natural causes!" he shouted. Lloyd winced momentarily but retorted.

"I was just asking, no need to fly off the handle!" Alex looked away and sighed.

"The only thing I have left of them is a small chest of keepsakes. Wait here, I'll get it," Alex vanished into a short hallway just off of the living room only to return a minute later with a small wooden chest with a hinged lid. Lloyd watched as Alex set the chest down on the coffee table, kneeled beside it, and opened the lid. Alex's face was almost sombre as he lifted a small old ornate key out of the chest.

"This was the key to our old house," Alex said. He set the key back in the chest and picked up what looked like a small screwdriver, "this was my grandfather's, he used to make things like this chest, as he was retired." He set the tool back in the chest and the picked up a brass pocket watch, "this also belonged to my grandfather, he always meant for me to use it but I never found myself able too, it was too painful," he lifted the lid open reveal the face and a faded crest, a long and thin sword with a ribbon behind it. Something about the symbol intrigued Lloyd, he had seen it before.

"That's interesting, where did your grandpa get that?" Lloyd asked, "I swear I've seen it before."

"I have no idea," Alex said, a bit ticked. The fox stuck his hand into the box and accidentally pricked his hand on something. Rather than wince in pain, his eyes widened in wonder as we withdrew a small broach that looked exactly like the design on the pocket watch and held it in his palm.

'_Grandma's broach, but how did it survive?'_ Alex's eyes then misted over, Lloyd looked at him, intrigued.

"Alex, is something wrong?" Alex stood up wordlessly and held out his right hand with the broach clenched in his fist. Lloyd then felt it, the same type of feeling he always got when a Clow Card was near, except this one was right in front of him. As if on cue, Kero popped out of Lloyd's backpack on the couch and shouted.

"Look out, it's the Sword Card!" The card in question then erupted from Alex's hand, the broach turned into a long and thin double-bladed sword, with a brass coloured pointed tip and ornate brass coloured hilt. Alex's eyes were now hollow as he was under the control of the Clow Card. The Fox took a swipe at Lloyd, but the green bear dodged, pulling out his medallion and changing it into his sword.

"I'd better take this outside so this house doesn't get destroyed," Lloyd dashed towards the door with Kero on his tail.

"Good idea," the guardian beast said. Lloyd quickly turned the knob and pulled the door open and was forced to jump onto the lawn before another swipe from the sword in Alex's hand could take his head off. Lloyd landed on the lawn in the middle of the rain and Alex jumped out after him, striking down as he landed. Lloyd was able to use his sword to block the blow, focusing his energy into it so the Sword Card wouldn't cut his sword in half.

"How am I supposed to beat this card?" Lloyd shouted to Kero.

"You have to get the sword out of his hand. Then you can seal it," The guardian beast said while hovering nearby. Lloyd tried to back off, but every time he got out of reach of Alex and the Sword Card, they jumped back into range with a furious attack. Lloyd was wracking his brains for a method that he could use to disarm Alex and when he felt the wind on his body, he got an idea.

"Kero can you keep his distracted for a minute?" Lloyd shouted.

"I can't guarantee but I'll try!" Kero flew straight at Alex, hitting him in the side of the head and knocking him down. Alex recovered and turned his attention to the little yellow creature and began trying to unsuccessfully cleave him in two, as Kero kept dodging his swipes. Lloyd saw his chance and dashed back into the house; once in side he darted to the backpack he had left on the couch, pulled out the Book of Clow and quickly searched for and pulled out the Windy Card. Lloyd looked out the front window and saw that Kero still had Alex's attention, so Lloyd pulled the key off of his neck and held it forwards on his palm.

"Key of Clow, Power of Magic, Power of Light, Surrender the Wand, the Force Ignite, Release!" the key levitated off his hand and extended into the sealing staff, which Lloyd grabbed. The bear sealed his sword back into its medallion form and dashed outside again.

By this time, Kero was beginning to tire and was afraid he would be hit, until Lloyd shouted, "Over here!" from the steps, with the Windy Card in his left hand and the sealing staff in his right. As Alex turned and tried to charge Lloyd, the bear threw the card forwards and struck it with the staff, reciting an incantation.

"Windy Card, use your power to take the Sword Card from Alex, Release and Dispell!" As the staff struck the card and Lloyd's magical energy flowed through it and the Windy Spirit appeared. The Windy Card flew at the Sword in Alex's hand; Alex tried to attack the wind in vain and the Sword was swept away and out of Alex's hand, leaving the teenaged fox to fall onto the ground, unconscious. Lloyd ran over to where the Windy Card was attempting to contain the Sword and swung his staff down at it shouting the sealing incantation.

"Sword Card, I command you to return to your power confined, SWORD CARD!" The Sword was rapidly sucked into its containing card, which then flew into Lloyd's waiting hand.

Lloyd sighed, "Phew, glad that's over," he looked over at the unconscious fox lying on the lawn. He knew he couldn't leave him outside in the rain so he picked up the fox's inert body and deposited him on the couch.

"But now, I have more important things to do," Lloyd said.

"That's right!" Kero said, "the Clow Card out there needs to be sealed before it caused any damage to the city."

"Then I'd better get moving before that happens," Lloyd took off out the front door, not noticing Alex stirring slightly as he left.

Lloyd watched the lightning dancing through the sky with his eyes and followed it heading to the south east of Alex's house. Knowing he needed to follow it he took off in the same direction. After a short time running, Lloyd came across a small playground in between four different roads; lightning was striking down in several places.

"It's here," Lloyd said. At that moment one blue lightning bolt hit the ground and began jumping along the grass towards Lloyd. The Bear was prepared though and raised his sword above his head.

"Force, know my plight Release the Light! Lightning!" Lloyd swung his sword down in a vertical arc and released a yellow lightning bolt at the blue bolt that was flying towards him. The two bolts collided and seemed to struggle against each other for a moment before the yellow bolt exploded and sent the blue bolt flying backwards, causing it to land in a heap on the ground. A moment passed and the blue lightning assembled itself into a rather large quadruped creature that vaguely resembled a large cat or dog.

"That must be the visible form," Lloyd said.

"You got it," Kero replied, "That's Rai-Ju the Thunder beast, which means this is the thunder card." The words had barely left Kero's mouth when the beast in question pounced at Lloyd, forcing him to dodge.

"That thing is fast, how am I supposed to beat it?" The bear shouted at Kero, "Do you think I could short it out with water!?"

"I don't know, Rai-Ju isn't a piece of electronics!" Kero shouted back.

"Well it's worth a try." Lloyd jumped back as the beast struck again, leaving a piece of the ground scorched, and the bear too out an o-fuda and struck it with the side of his sword shouting as he did so.

"Element water, come to my aid!" and as he struck the slip of paper, a stream of water burst forth and struck the lightning beast. Fortunately it had the desired effect and the beast began to act just like any piece of electronics that had been splashed with water, almost destabilizing.

"That will hold him for now, but I need a more permanent solution," Lloyd said, striving to think of something he could use to totally disable the beast easily, "what was it Madison told me, something about lightning being made of light. I doubt Windy would work but maybe I could block out its light, the Shadow Card would be perfect for this." Lloyd fished the card in question out of the Book of Clow and threw it forwards.

"Shadow Card, use your power to envelop and paralyze Thunder, Release and Dispell!" The Shadow spirit emerged form its card, hovered for an instant, and then flew at the Thunder Beast, which was just shaking off the last of the water, and surrounded it with shadow tendrils creating a ring around it before closing in and trapping the beast in a large sphere of darkness. Rai-Ju's struggles to escape were evident as light occasionally broke the surface of the sphere. Not wasting any time, Lloyd ran up to the sphere and swung the sealing staff at it.

"Thunder Card, I command you to return to your power confined, Thunder!" He swung forwards, creating the vortex that sucked the Thunder Card into its sealed card form. As the Shadow Card reappeared in Lloyd's hand, the Thunder Card floated up, then into Lloyd's other hand. Wasting no time, Lloyd pulled out a pen he kept in one of his vest pockets and swiftly wrote his name "Lloyd Terada" across the bottom of the card.

As the clouds cleared, Lloyd breathed a sigh of relief and Kero floated over to him.

"Great job," the small beast said, "two captures in one night, that's a great accomplishment."

"I'm just glad it's over, I'm exhausted, I've never stayed up so long because of Clow Cards before. I'd better get back to Alex's house before he finds me gone." Kero nodded, and the two of them walked back to the Fox's house, not rushing now that the crisis was over and the sky was mostly clear. Lloyd stared up at the stars and at the one cloud bank that he not left once the Thunder Card left. No, two cloud banks, it was odd though, they were rather far apart in the sky, one was larger than the other and even the underside was oddly bright white, while the other was rather small and dark and stormy, despite the fact that the storm was over. The bear shrugged it off and continued on his way.


	3. Confessions

Chapter 3: Confessions

Lloyd's trip back to Alex's house was uneventful; now that the night didn't have a stormy atmosphere Lloyd's only thoughts were to get back to the house and get some sleep. Lloyd turned down the street Knight Crescent that Alex lived on, walked to the wide corner, crossed the lawn, and walked up the steps to Alex's door. As the bear turned the knob he spoke to Kero in a hushed voice.

"Be quiet, we don't want to wake Alex up." Kero was about to nod after Lloyd opened the door but they were interrupted by a voice from inside.

"Which isn't a problem because I'm up already!" Shocked, Kero dove behind Lloyd in an attempt to hide himself from the fox, but to no avail. Alex stood up from the couch where he had been sitting, the same couch he had been set down on earlier, and walked over to Lloyd. The Fox was fuming and had apparently been awake for some time.

"So, mind telling me what you were just doing, who and what that was that flew behind you, and why I can't remember what happened after I picked up my Grandma's Broach!" as he spoke, Alex had advanced on Lloyd and was now practically in the bear's face. Lloyd's nervousness had passed and now he was annoyed by Alex's attitude, but he was too tired to argue at the moment.

"Fine, I'll tell you, but not now, I'm very tired from today and I need some rest, I promise to explain everything in the morning." Alex still refused to budge.

"Tell me who that stuffed animal behind you is or you're not getting in the house!" Alex was practically shouting.

"Hey, who are you calling a stuffed animal!" Kero flew out form behind Lloyd as he shouted this.

"His name is Kero, and if you don't mind I'd like to get in and get some sleep!" Lloyd ended up raising his voice as well, only escalating the argument. Surprisingly Alex relented, allowing Lloyd to enter the house.

"Sleep on the couch," Alex said, "in the morning you're going to explain everything to me." Alex turned and marched back to his room leaving Lloyd and Kero in the living room.

"Great, so much for keeping a secret," Lloyd commented.

"The nerve of that kid, calling _me _a stuffed animal," Kero said. Lloyd just ignored him and lay down on the couch, taking the Book of Clow from where it hung loosely on his waist and tossing it on a part of the couch where his body wouldn't touch, using one of the throw pillows for his head and one of the afghan blankets he had seen earlier as a covering. Lloyd lay still, trying to ignore Kero's rants as he thought about what he would do in the morning.

'_No way around it,'_ he thought to himself, _'I'll have to tell him in the morning, he's one of my kind so maybe I shouldn't try and avoid the subject with him.'_

Lloyd slept soundly despite the worries on his mind. However to his dismay his sleep was dreamless, meaning no visions, though maybe that was better somehow…

Lloyd was awakened the next morning to the smell of breakfast being made. He sat up and rubbed his eyes to find that he was still on Alex's couch. The bear looked around the living room and saw that the makeshift coffee table was set for a meal, three plates each set with a fork, a knife, and a glass; Kero was still asleep on the only side of the small table that didn't have any dishes on it. Lloyd reached over and tapped Kero causing the small beast to stir but settle back down a moment later. Lloyd tapped him, a bit harder this time, and said.

"Kero, get up it's morning." Kero stirred and yawned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Already?" Kero asked, sleepily. He then took a moment to smell the food that was being prepared, "What's that smell?"

"It's breakfast," Alex said, coming in from the kitchen with a plate in each hand, one was covered in pancakes while the other had roughly a dozen strips of bacon on it. Alex set the plates in the middle of the makeshift coffee table and said, "Be right back," disappeared into the kitchen once more and returned with a pain full of scrambled eggs, which he divided into three portions, Kero's being somewhat smaller than his and Lloyd's, returned to the kitchen and returned with a salt shaker, a pepper grinder, a bottle of maple syrup and third plate with half a dozen piece of toast, cut in half as triangles, and set them down next to the plates of pancakes and bacon. Alex then sat down on the floor opposite Lloyd, whilst Kero had flown to the side of the table his food was on. There was silence for a while as Alex, Lloyd, and Kero filled their plates with food, then Lloyd took a bite and commented.

"This is good stuff, did you make this food all by yourself?"

"I spent a lot of time with my grandparents when I was growing up; because they were retired and had a lot of savings they spent most of their time at home; I spent a lot of time with them when I wasn't in school and I picked up a lot from being around them. I helped my grandmother with her baking and my grandfather with his woodworking and other handyman jobs and they taught how I could do what they were doing." Alex paused for a moment then continued, with a more sombre tone, "Even after my grandparents died I kept teaching myself to cook so I could eat more than instant noodles and Kraft Dinner for the rest of my life." There was a pause before Alex spoke up again, evidently now that he was done serving food his anger from last night had returned.

"So mind telling me just _what _happened last night!" Lloyd was perfectly willing to explain, but now Alex had ticked him off.

"If you must know, Alex," Lloyd put an angry emphasis on the Fox's name, "you were taken over by The Sword Card, a magical spirit that had disguised itself as the broach that belonged to your grandmother." Lloyd sighed, and sat back, "I feel like I'm going to have to tell this story a few more times before I finish my mission. The spirit is one of 36 beings called the Clow Spirits which were turned into magical cards by a sorcerer called Clow Reed a very long time ago. I release the spirits about twelve years ago and because I was able to break the seal on the book it is my duty to recapture them and become their master. If I can't capture them they will cause immense damage to people's live or the environment," as he spoke, Lloyd took the Book of Clow from where he had tossed it the previous night and opened it, taking out the first three cards, not bothering to check which ones they were, and holding them up for Alex to see. Alex's face was a mixture of confusion and curiosity as he observed the cards. Lloyd replaced them in the book as Alex spoke up, anger still in his voice though not as prevalent as before.

"So, is there anyway to tell when a Clow Card is near by?" Alex asked, before taking a fork full of pancake and stuffing it in his mouth.

"I sort of have a sixth sense that alerts me to their presence, when one is near I get this strange feeling in my head. Kero has the same ability but normal people can tell by witnessing strange events," Lloyd gestured to the guardian beast, who had just finished eating. Alex swallowed his current mouthful and asked.

"So what's the little stuffed animal's story anyways?"

"Who are you calling a stuffed animal you little brat!" Kero shouted at Alex.

"I'm not a brat you annoying stuffed animal!" Alex shouted back.

"Can't you stop arguing for a minute!" Lloyd shouted, oblivious to his own anger as he shouted back at them. Surprisingly Alex stopped and spoke in a calmer voice than Lloyd had ever heard him speak in.

"I think I can help you, but seriously, what is Kero's story?" Lloyd was perplexed but continued to speak.

"Kero is the guardian beast of the Clow Cards, his job was to keep the book from being opened and the cards form escaping and causing havoc."

"So what happened did the stuffed animal fall asleep on the job?" Alex asked.

"Yes, I did," Kero's voice and expression were a mixture of anger and disgrace, though the latter was more prevalent. Alex couldn't help himself and bust out laughing for a moment.

"Oh man, I was just kidding when I asked that but really? you fell asleep, for how long?" Alex asked, laughing all the time.

"50 years," Kero said through gritted teeth as the fox kept laughing.

When the fox managed to get his mirth under control he spoke again, "But I do have something I think you'll be interested in." Alex got up and fished something out of a box that was stored underneath the TV, it was a video tape, which Alex promptly inserted into a VCR that Lloyd had not bothered to notice until that moment.

"I saw this on the news last week, so I recorded a later showing of it while I tried to figure out what was going on." Alex turned the television on and switched over to the VCR before hitting the play button and returning to sit down next to Lloyd. The green bear watched, hardly interested at first but after about a minute the part that was interesting came on.

"…_yesterday at the Wascana Park pool, some swimmers and a lifeguard almost drowned when a whirlpool appeared in the pool for unknown reasons. While some people suspected that the drain had been opened or a crack was in the pool, when the pool was drained, no such problems were discovered. A few hours later a similar whirlpool appeared in Wascana Lake and several Canadian geese nearly drowned, however there have been no such incidents before and there is no accounting for such disturbances. Locals are being advised to stay away from the both he pool and the lake until further notice. Turning to…_

Lloyd watched the recorded News report in fascination and as the anchor spoke he saw the images of strange whirlpools in both the swimming pool and Wascana Lake. Kero and the green bear exchanged serious looks.

"It's a Clow Card," Lloyd said.

"Not just any card, it's the Watery Card, one of the four elemental spirits and one of the most powerful cards," Kero said, all childishness gone fro his voice. Alex looked from the beast to the bear and asked.

"Ok am I missing something here? That News report clearly had something to do with your mission."

"It's a very powerful card, after breakfast, we need to discuss this Lloyd." The Bear nodded and returned to eating. Alex could feel the tension between the two, heavier than he had seen in a long time; the little stuffed animal wasn't even acting goofy. The rest of the meal passed in silence and when they had finished Alex quietly gathered up their dishes and took them to the kitchen. Using a stool so he could reach the sink easily, he ran hot soapy water into the sink and loaded all of the dishes into it, except for the electric frying pan he had used for the pancakes, as it had an expose outlet. As he washed the dished he listened to what Kero and Lloyd were saying.

Lloyd had taken the Book of Clow and set it on the table as he spoke to Kero.

"So Kero, can you offer me any advice on capturing the Watery Card?" Kero shook his head and replied.

"No, all I can tell you is that like all of the Elemental Spirits, the Watery Card will attack you directly and you'll have to face it on your own. What I can tell you is that you'll have to call on your most powerful allies to capture this card."

"My most powerful allies?" Lloyd asked.

"Two of the first Clow Cards you captured on your own, not the ones you kept form escaping the book when you broke the seal."

"The Illusion, The Windy, the Shadow, the Sword, and the Thunder," Lloyd said recalling the events of those captures, "I captured the Illusion when I was 12, though my father helped me catch it somewhat, The Windy was the card that Koran sent me after the day he died, I was able to beat it with my own magic and capture it on my own. Then there was the Shadow Card I caught at Wal-Mart, and the Sword and Thunder Cards last night"

"Right, just remember, you can only use two of the in combination, any more and you might lose control of the situation." Lloyd nodded.

"So, I guess we should leave and take care of this soon. If the people are still being advised to avoid the lake, it should make capturing the card easier," Kero nodded. By this time, Alex had finished washing the breakfast dishes and was now letting them air dry. The fox dried his hands on a tea towel and returned to the living room speaking as he entered.

"Then I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not, you're staying here." Lloyd's voice was stern.

"No way am I staying here while you and that stuffed animal run off and have all the fun!" Alex's voice had risen to anger in a matter of moments. Kero's shouts about being called a stuffed animal again were overlapped with Lloyd shouting back at Alex, now almost as angry as the fox was.

"Fun! This isn't fun it's dangerous work I have to do and there's no way a little kid like you could possibly help me!"

"I'm not a little kid I'm 13, not much younger than you are!" Alex retorted, "and besides you need my help."

"What kind of help could you give me!" Lloyd shouted back.

"Do you know even know _how_ to get to Wascana lake?" Alex asked severely. Lloyd looked away from the fox.

"No, I don't," Lloyd replied, now feeling ridiculous but still angry, knowing that after their argument, asking the fox for directions wouldn't be a smart move.

"I told you you needed my help, now get ready for this excursion because I'm taking you to your next spirit," the tome of Alex's voice was final and while Lloyd still felt like arguing he muttered, "Fine!" and grabbed the Book of Clow, stuffing it in his backpack before hoisting the whole thing on his shoulders.

"Good, then follow me," Alex opened the front door as Kero dove inside Lloyd's backpack. The bear followed the fox for a few minutes, after Alex had locked the house up, and they came to a bus stop in front of a corner drug store.

"The adult fee for the bus is $1.75," Alex said, "I can show you where to get off and what busses to take, just stick close, Regina isn't a big city but you can get lost here if you're new."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lloyd said, taking out his wallet and counting out the required fare. The bus arrive a couple minutes later and the two small animals boarded it, Alex tore a ticket off of a small bunch he had with him, dropped it in the fare box and said.

"Transfer please." The bus driver tore off a small piece of paper and handed it to Alex, who thanked him. Lloyd stepped up and dropped his fare in the box and repeated what Alex had said.

"Transfer please." The bus driver tore off another transfer slip and handed it to the bear, Lloyd stuck the paper in his pocket and went to sit across the aisle of the bus from Alex, so he could keep his backpack on, and waited as the bus pulled away from the curb and began moving.


	4. Troubled Waters

Chapter 4: Troubled Waters

The bus ride passed in silence at first, but after sitting in silence for 15 minutes, Lloyd spoke up.

"So Alex, you mentioned your grandfather taught you how to do woodworking." The green bear wasn't really expecting and answer so he was surprised when Alex spoke up.

"Yeah, that and a few other repair and construction skills I could use around the house. I remember helping him to make and fix a bunch of stuff while he was still…" Alex's voice trailed off.

"Alive?" Lloyd guessed.

"Yes!" Alex responded harshly. Lloyd glared back at the fox.

"No need to get so angry." Alex scowled before changing the subject somewhat.

"I've though about using my skills to try and refit my house to be more suited to me but I never got around to it." More time passed without the two animals speaking as people boarded the bus, gave the two of them, Lloyd in particular, odd looks, and sat down to wait for their stops. The bus ride lasted roughly an hour before Alex pulled the cord to signal to the driver that their stop was next. The bus came to a halt and the two short animals disembarked. The bus pulled away and Alex gestured to a large path of grass and trees with a lake in the middle.

"This is Wascana Park and roughly where the news showed that water monster attacking." Lloyd nodded as the fox led him to the grassy area. "I guess we just have to wait for that thing to show up, how long do you think that will be?" Alex asked.

"It should be soon, I've noticed that my magical energy tends to attract or stir up cards when I'm nearby," Lloyd said. At that moment Kero popped his head out of his backpack and said.

"Be careful, you won't be able to sense this card, all of the elemental spirits are elusive." Lloyd angrily shoved Kero's head down into the bag and said.

"I'll keep that in mind and stay out of site, I don't want to explain why I have a tiny floating yellow pet with me."

"Or a floating talking stuffed animal," Alex added, forcing Lloyd to hold Kero's Angry form inside his backpack as he struggled and shouted at Alex's insult.

"Can't you two avoid drawing attention to us!" Lloyd shouted at Alex.

"Look who's talking moron!" Alex shouted back. At this point several power people in the park were staring at them forcing the two animals to stop the spectacle, as they normally drew enough attention as it was. Trying to avoid putting on a spectacle Alex led Lloyd to a patch of grass near the lakeside where they sat down to watch the lake.

"I don't see any water birds in the lake," Alex observed, "I guess that spirit scared them off."

"Probably," Lloyd said, "the Clow Cards seem to enjoy messing with nature and people, that's why I have to capture them. If I don't they would have the potential to irreparably damage the lives of people and nature alike." Alex looked at Lloyd for a moment and he had to admit that while he wasn't much older than him the bear seemed to have a grasp of nature that he lacked, he sort of reminded him of… Alex shuddered involuntarily, but Lloyd didn't notice.

Lloyd glanced around the park, noticing the various families and other people in the park that day, on picnics or outings. He sighed inwardly, sometimes wishing that he could live without such major responsibility, he snapped back to reality as soon as he heard Alex shout.

"It's over there, in the lake!" Lloyd's gaze, along with those of everyone else in the park, was instantly focused on a whirlpool that had formed in the middle of the lake. The bear stood up as Kero poked his head out of his backpack.

"That's definitely the Watery Card."

"I hope you have a plan for this," Alex said.

"No, but I'll think of something," Lloyd said as he lifted the Clow Key off of his neck and held it out in front of him.

"Oh Key of Clow,

Power of Magic,

Power of Light,

Surrender the Wand,

The force ignite

Release!"

The key extended into the Sealing Staff which Lloyd grabbed out of mid air. Fortunately no one in the park had paid him any attention, judging the unnatural whirlpool in the lake to be of greater importance.

'_Only two of my closest allies among, I better think fast and choose carefully before any of these people get hurt."_ Lloyd though as he faced the lake, _'Watery Card, come and get me!'_

However the spirit in question didn't seem to be interested in Lloyd at the moment as it launched a blast of water at a group of two parents and their two kids, fortunately missing them and rising up above the water ready to strike out again.

"I have to stop The Watery Card before it hurts anyone," Lloyd snapped his fingers, "I got it." He held up the Illusion card and recited an incantation.

"Illusion Card, use your power to hide this battle with the Watery Card from the view of humans and hide humans from the view of the Watery Card, Release and Dispell!" He threw the card forwards and struck it with his staff releasing a large sheet kaleidoscope material from the card which formed a large dome around the lake, flashed, and suddenly the Watery card couldn't see any of the humans around and the humans no longer could see Lloyd, Alex, or the Watery Spirit. Most were surprised but just turned and went back to their tasks, one individual however continued to watch, his vision not having been disrupted.

Without the ability to immediately see any other targets, the large mound of water that was hovering over the lake turned its attention towards the largest source of magic in the vicinity, specifically Lloyd and Kero. The Watery Spirit launched itself at them, forcing Alex and Lloyd, with Kero following him, to dart off in different directions, fortunately staying inside the cloaking barrier of the Illusion Card. The mass of water began chasing the Cardcaptor and the Guardian Beast while shooting thin lines of water at him like arrows, putting small holes in the ground just shy of where the bear's feet were moments ago. Lloyd was unable to stop for even an instant to try and counterattack, lest he be skewered by one of the card's attacks.

Alex hadn't bothered to run when he saw that the spirit was more interested in chasing Lloyd than anything else, but he could see that Lloyd was incapable of counterattacking. Later Alex said he wasn't sure if he'd gone temporarily insane or had had a burst of courage at that point but he grabbed a couple rocks from the ground and charged after the spirit, hurling the rocks at the large watery form while shouting.

"Hey Spirit! Over here!" The rocks passed through the spirit's body harmlessly, but the spirit was incensed by Alex's words and attack so it turned to face the Fox causing him to stop dead in his tracks, riveted by the monstrosity facing him. Lloyd and Kero noticed these actions and turned back to see what was happening.

"What does that crazy brat think he's doing?!" Kero shouted.

"Giving me an opening," Lloyd said, reaching for a Clow Card.

"Thunder Card, use your power to electrocute and paralyze Watery, Release and Dispell!" The summoned spirit immediately appeared in its Rai-Ju form and charged at the Watery Spirit. The mound

of water took notice too late before the Thunder Beast struck it, covering its body in electricity. "It worked!" Lloyd said. As the spirits struggled in mid air, the mound of water began to take the shape of a mermaid like girl made of water with sharp teeth.

"That's the visible form, hurry and seal it!" Kero shouted. Lloyd didn't need to be told twice and he ran up to the Spirit with his staff upraised.

"Watery Card, I command you to return to your power confined, Watery Card!" He swung down and the staff sealed the spirit into its card, which floated into the bear's hand, the spirit form now visible on the card's front. The bear withdrew a pen from a pocket of his vest and hastily wrote "Lloyd Terada" across the bottom of the card.

"Good job Lloyd," Kero said, "the Watery Card is one of the most powerful spirits."

"Hate to stop the stuffed animal's praise, but we have to go, it won't be long before some people decide to call the news and police about the water monster they saw, even if it was only for a moment," Alex pointed out.

"Who are you calling mmph…" Lloyd grabbed Kero and covered his mouth.

"You can argue later but the kid has a point, we'd better move before we have to deal with the police."

The three took off with Lloyd recalling the Illusion Card once they were outside of the cloaking area of the dome. Amazingly, none of the humans seemed to notice the strange animals appearing from nowhere, those that did decide later to either have their glasses checked and/or see a doctor. However someone had noticed someone who had been sitting by the lakeside and had, the same person who had been able to witness to the entire battle between the Cardcaptor and the Watery Spirit.

"That was definitely Alex over there," he mused to himself, "but I've never seen that bear before, and that battle, it was like a battle against nature gone rampant. Perhaps I should pay Alex a visit after my shift at the Museum this afternoon."


	5. Historical Discoveries

Chapter 5: Historical Discoveries

Rather than heading back to Alex's house, the two animals instead rode the bus to downtown Regina and the Cornwall Shopping Centre for lunch. As Lloyd followed Alex to the food court, he managed to grab a couple brochures from stands, just to see if there was anything in the city that would interest him. When they arrived at the food court Alex asked Lloyd to sit at a table while he got them some food, specifically New York Fries. Lloyd was content to sit and read the brochures he had grabbed while he waited for Alex, and kept Kero quiet, one in particular had his attention right up until the fox returned with their lunch a jumbo sized cup of fries, two hot dogs, and two medium sodas, root beer for Alex and cola for Lloyd; the fries had been dumped across the meal ray and spread with both salt and seasoning, Alex later told Lloyd that he always dumped out the fries so they were easier to season. As the two friends ate, Alex noticed that Lloyd was reading a brochure.

"Whatcha got there?" the fox asked.

"A brochure that I grabbed on the way over here, it's for an RCMP Heritage Museum. It sounds interesting and I'd like to check it out."

"Oh…okay," Alex's voice softened as he spoke.

"Is something the matter?" Lloyd asked.

"Let's just say that I haven't been on the best terms with the authorities recently. Remember how I said that those gang members waited to take me out until just recently, I was on probation in the young offender's act so the police were watching they me; my probation ended two weeks ago and they were just waiting for the right moment to jump me." Alex sighed, "Well it's not like I have anything better to do today, we can take the bus to the museum once we finish eating." After that the meal passed in silence; as Alex munched away on the fries a bit half-heartedly, not really enthusiastic about the prospect of going to the RCMP Museum but now he wasn't angry about the prospect he was just nervous; he would have argued against the idea but he really had no arguments against it for once in his life. Once they finished and left the food tray on top of the garbage bin, they left for the bus station, with Lloyd being forced to pause a couple of times to drop some candy he'd bought at a concession into his backpack to keep Kero happy.

Alex seemed to know which bus to take to the museum and fortunately the bus they needed to get on arrived at the bus stop and they got on, paid the fare, and then sat down waiting for the bus to arrive at its location. Thankfully, Kero was quiet for the trip but Lloyd found things painfully quiet for a while, so he tried to strike up a conversation with Alex.

"So Alex, do you like living on your own here?"

"I guess so," Alex sighed, "though I wish I could do something else besides just living here, it's getting incredibly irritating just getting through the day with everyone I meet insisting that I go back to school!" Lloyd rolled his eyes in irritation.

"Do you have to get so worked up every time I ask you a question," Lloyd had a hard time keeping the irritation out of his voice.

"Oh I'm so sorry," Alex's voice was heavy with sarcasm as he reached up to pull the stop request cable. Lloyd was about to retort when the bus pulled to a stop in front of the RCMP Museum. Both the bear and the fox glared at one another as they disembarked the bus and crossed a rather large expanse of lawn to the front doors of the RCMP heritage museum. Once inside, Lloyd's attention was immediately off of his argument with Alex as he looked around. Both he and the fox, who was not really enthusiastic about being in the museum, paid their entrance fee and entered the first exhibit area. They brushed past a Mountie without bothering to look at him Alex averting his gaze and Lloyd wanting to see the exhibits, and the Mountie turned to them, a bit surprised.

"Well what do you know eh?" The Mountie said and he began to wave, trying to get Alex's attention. Alex saw the Mountie waving and cringed; he grabbed Lloyd's sleeve and pulled him along, suddenly interested he said.

"Com'on, let's go see the exhibits, now."

This completely confused Lloyd but they were in the first exhibit before the bear could question him and he began looking around and reading the displays with the enthusiasm of a child, genuinely interested in learning about the RCMP. Once he was at the exhibits, Alex hung back, not interested in seeing the exhibits but constantly checking over his shoulder to see if they were being followed, gritting his teeth as he thought to himself.

'_Man I didn't expect him to be on duty here today, I just hope he doesn't come looking for us. I've got to see if I can get Lloyd and myself out of here before he tries to talk to us."_ Alex followed Lloyd around for a little while longer, still constantly checking over his shoulder. After about 15 minutes he spoke to the bear.

"I'm hungry, wanna go and get something at the snack bar." Lloyd shrugged.

"Sure why not, we'd better get something to keep Kero quiet too, he's been fidgeting and asking for candy for the last five minutes." As if to clarify his point, Lloyd's backpack shook from Kero's struggling. Both animals made their way to a table in front of the concession stand, Alex offered to pay for the food, bringing back two sandwiches wrapped in plastic and a few hard candies, which Lloyd dumped into his backpack after telling Kero to stay quiet, and the two of them began to eat, more slowly than before since they were still satiated from lunch. Neither of them noticed the Mountie who had caught Alex's attention who walked up to the counter, bought a small piece of cake, then began walking over to them.

"Well, hi there Alex. I saw you stop in and thought I'd say hello then. Ya must not have seen me waving, eh? Who's your friend?" Alex cringed upon hearing the voice.

"Oh man why did he have to be on duty today?" the fox muttered. Lloyd turned in the direction of the voice while chewing his current mouthful of food and he saw that the speaker was a brown moose whose body had the same human-like form as Alex and himself with very dark brown heart shaped stamp on the end of his nose, and who was about the same height as the two of them and wearing a ceremonial Mountie uniform. The Moose was holding a small plate with some sort of cake on it, which he set on the table next to them before pulling a seat up to sit with them.

"My name is Lloyd, Lloyd Terada," The bear said, answering the moose's question.

"I'm doing just fine. Excuse me, I have to use the bathroom," Alex pushed his chair out and got down and left to attend to his business while the moose climbed into one of the two remaining chairs and sat with Lloyd. The bear swallowed his current mouthful of sandwich before speaking.

"You seem to know Alex quite well don't you?" he asked.

"Yep, I've known him for a long time. My name is Maurice Mackenzie, and your name is?" The moose extended a hand to Lloyd. The bear put his sandwich down before taking Maurice's hand and shaking it.

"My name is Lloyd Terada, I just met Alex yesterday. You're the second animal like myself I've met in two days now."

"You're the second I've met other than Alex. So what's your story eh?"

"Well," Lloyd said, "I grew up in a cave north of here where I was raised by Koran Terada, a man who adopted me after he found me looking like I do now lying in the forest. He raised me and taught me how to survive as well as how to defend myself. Koran died a couple months ago and I started my journey, I've met some interesting people, like Alex, and I've done some interesting things while I traveled." Lloyd took another bite out of his sandwich. Maurice watched Lloyd for a moment before asking his next question.

"Anything to do with lake monsters made of water eh?"

Lloyd began to choke on the food he had swallowed at that exact moment forcing the moose to reach over and give the bear a very strong clap on his back, causing him to spit out the chunks of chewed food onto the table. Alex had exited the bathroom moments before and was able to see this happen and he sped up his pace to hear what was going on. At that moment Kero popped his head out of the backpack and started shouting.

"Alright are there any Clow Cards here mmphh!" Lloyd was able to grab the backpack tightly keeping the beast quiet, now everyone was staring at the three animals, not wanting to create anymore attention Alex offered a suggestion.

"Maybe we should take this outside before we create more of a scene then we already have."

20 minutes later, Lloyd, Alex, Maurice and Kero were seated at a picnic table that was relatively well hidden behind a couple trees and not in direct view of either the entrance of the parking lot. Kero was seated on the table while the three animals were seated at the table. Lloyd sighed, recalling the fight with the Watery card earlier that day.

"'Hide all _humans_ from view' no wonder you were able to see that battle," the bear groaned aloud.

"I was on my lunch break eh," Maurice explained, "so I went to the park for a while when you showed up and started that fight with that water creature and used that magic of yours to hide it from everyone."

"Except for you, obviously," Alex added, "since there's no reason for me to be here, I'm going back into the museum." Alex left before Lloyd could object and Maurice just sighed.

"He's changed for the worse I'm afraid. But enough about that what's the story behind those powers of yours eh?" Lloyd sighed.

"Might as well tell you the story of the Clow Cards, since you were able to see Lloyd's battle earlier," Kero said.

"Well, the story starts over 500 years ago in Hong Kong…"

***

Not really wanting to listen to Maurice, Alex had indeed gone back into the museum but he was not really into the exhibits and was just wandering around thinking to himself.

'_I don't want to stay in this city anymore, every day I just see things that remind me of something I want to forget,'_ he sighed _'when I was a kid I used to tell my grandparents that I wanted to see more than this city in my life,'_ the fox snapped his fingers and spoke quietly but seriously to himself.

"Then that's what I'll do, I'll go with Lloyd when he moves on."

***

"So that's the whole story eh?" Maurice said just as Kero and Lloyd finished explaining both the story of the Clow Cards and Lloyd's personal story to him.

"Yep, right up until I met Alex yesterday," Lloyd said.

"So, from what you've said, it sounds like these Clow Cards are like the forces of nature run amok eh?" The green bear scratched his head as Kero responded.

"You could say that, but the Clow Cards aren't all violent forces of nature, like the Sword Card that took over that brat of a fox last night."

"But he has a point, the Thunder Card that created that massive thunderstorm last night and the Watery Card today are like forces of nature on the rampage," Lloyd added.

"Forces that must be contained or people will suffer…" Maurice said, trailing off a bit. Lloyd noticed and asked.

"So Maurice how old are you and what is your story?" the bear asked.

" I'm 45 and if you want, I'll tell you. But not now, I'm still on duty here. Tell ya what eh, I'll come over to Alex's house later and tell you then but for now, I have a job eh." Maurice stood up and walked back into the museum, passing Alex and giving him a warm smile, which was met with a hostile glare from the fox. Alex sat down and cracked open the can of pop he had bought on his way out, he took a couple mouthfuls before asking.

"So how was your talk with Maurice?" he asked before taking a long drink from the can.

"It was alright, he said he's come over to your house later to talk mo…" Lloyd was interrupted by Alex spitting the mouthful of pop in his mouth across the table, fortunately not hitting anything of value. Lloyd reeled a bit and Alex coughed a couple times before he spoke again.

"What!" he said harshly, "wasn't it obvious that I don't really care for his company, I can't believe you invited him to my hose without asking me!"

"Well sorry," Lloyd said, his voice heavy with sarcasm, "I just wanted to get to know him better and he suggested your place before I could say anything."

"That's just perfect!" Alex groaned, before chugging the rest of his drink down and crushing the can in his hand, "I'd prefer if we went back to my place now, no getting around him being there anymore."

"Right, com'on back in here Kero," Lloyd said, as he gestured for Kero to get back in his backpack. Kero obliged silently, mostly because there were still some hard candies in the backpack. The two animals didn't speak on the way back to Alex's house, though Lloyd could see Alex venting quiet rage at him for the entire trip. Lloyd endured it until they got back to the house, where Alex plopped himself down on the couch and flicked the television on.

Not really having anything better to do, Lloyd joined him, keeping a comfortable distance between the two of them. After a while Kero emerged from the backpack that Lloyd had tossed on the couch earlier and was about to say something when the bear gave him a look and shook his head. Kero got the message and sat quietly as Alex flipped through the TV stations without much interest in the programs. After a couple hours passed Lloyd was getting sick of Alex's attitude and was about to speak up when the doorbell rang.

"Sounds like your guest is here," the fox shut the TV off and stood up, "have fun talking to him, I'm going to make supper." Lloyd stood up as Alex vanished into the kitchen and the bear walked over to and answered the door. Maurice was on the other side, apparently having come straight from work as he was still wearing his ceremonial Mountie's uniform.

"Nice to see you again Lloyd is Alex here?" he asked. Lloyd stepped aside to allow the moose passage into the house.

"He said he's making supper, so he'll probably be busy for a while," the bear replied. Both animals sat down on the couch, listening to Alex pouring water into presumably a large pot.

"At least that kid is still doing constructive things, with his spare eh," Maurice commented.

"Yeah," Lloyd said, "so, Maurice, what is your story?"

The moose smiled, "Well, I'll tell you…"

A/N: I want to make sure I say this right now, Maurice Mackenzie is not my character, he was created by Teacher Bear and she allowed me to use him in my series, so thanks Teacher Bear, I appreciate your allowing me to use him.


	6. Maurice's Story

Chapter 6: Maurice's Story

Over 40 years ago near Regina…

A pair of shots from hunting rifles broke the calm of the late evening of the early spring air, though show was still on the ground as was typical of Canada. A third and fourth shot rang out, felling both the moose and cow the two hunters were aiming at, the snow turning red with blood where their bodies came to rest.

"Are they dead?" one of the hunters asked.

"Looks like it to me, but I thought I saw a third one, with them, looked young enough to be a calf," the other hunter said.

"Forget about it, we can't go after the young ones or we'll get our licences taken away, the same might happen if they find out we killed a cow too, let's just take our kills and get out of here, go back and get the sled while I stay here." The second hunter nodded and clicked the safety of his rifle on before trekking back to find the aforementioned sled.

Nearby, the young moose calf had fled when his parents urged him to, however he did not understand why they weren't near him anymore, but the loud noises from the gunshots had caused him to keep running until the strain was too much for his young body and he collapsed from exhaustion. Overhead, a star shone more brightly than the others, sending a beam of light down over the young calf, causing his body to reshape itself into a more humanoid shape, with heart shaped pads on the feet and hands and a darker brown heart shaped mark on the front of his snout, though the color of his fur remained unchanged.

Nearby, two constables of the RCMP were on patrol, using a snowmobile and wearing thick coats because of the cold. Nothing much was happening until one of them spotted the beam of light a short ways off.

"Hey, Robert, what do you make of that eh?" one Mounty asked, pointing at the beam of light.

"No clue, Douglass, but we should check it out eh," the Mounty named Robert said, getting on the snowmobile and getting the engine going. Douglass climbed onto the back of the long seat of the machine and Robert revved the engine and took off towards the beam of light.

The trip took about 10 minutes, by which time the beam of light had receded into the sky. Robert slowed the machine down as they neared the place where the beam set down and both of them beheld a curious sight.

"Looks like a moose calf, but I've never seen a moose this small before," Robert commented.

"Me neither," Douglass was a bit too curious and got off the machine to pick the calf up.

"It looks odd, its body look almost human like," he said.

"Well what should we do with it eh?" Robert asked.

"Well we'd better take it back with us, not sure why but I don't think he's a normal moose anymore and he might die if we leave him out here," Douglass said, carefully climbing back onto the snowmobile, holding the young moose securely alongside him with one arm and holding himself on the machine with the other arm.

"Hold on tight, I'll get us back to the barracks as fast as I can." Robert gunned the engine and set off with their new companion. The moose calf slept peacefully, not knowing of the death of his parents nor that he would soon have another family.

Almost an hour later at the RCMP barracks in Regina both of the Mounty constables had reported to their sergeant and now the three of them were standing over the sleeping calf as he slept wrapped in a blanket on a table.

"So you just found him after following a beam of light eh?" the sergeant asked for the umpteenth time. Both constables nodded, as they had every other time their sergeant had asked them. The sergeant sighed.

"Well I'm not sure what to make of it; with big game hunters around his parents are likely dead; considering how small he is he might not be able to survive in the wild anymore. We'll keep him here until we know more eh, you two better stay with him just in case he wakes up." As their sergeant left, Douglass sat down and stared at the young calf sleeping on the table, Robert stayed standing and asked.

"Well, if you stay here, mind if I go and get us something to eat bro?"

"Why not eh," Douglass said to his brother, "I'll stay here and look after this young one while you go." Robert nodded before grabbing the keys to his car and heading out to the parking lot. Douglass watched his older brother go before turning his attention back to the calf, several questions on his mind but none of which he could answer on his own. The constable sighed and leaned back in his chair waiting for his brother to return.

It took about an hour for Robert to return from his food run; he had bought coffee and a couple sandwiches from Tim Horton's. Robert set the second cup next to his younger brother and asked.

"Did he wake up while I was gone?"

"Nope," Douglass replied, before taking a drink from the coffee, as he would probably have to be up all night.

"Well let's just hope he stays that way until everyone reports in in the morning."

Fortunately the calf's exhaustion meant that it ended up sleeping until the morning came; both Mounties were able to stay awake until the rest of the post came in early next morning. About a dozen officers, including the Sergeant from the previous night, stood around the table where the calf was still sleeping observing it. Everyone had been told about what happened the previous night and they were debating what to do with the young animal now in front of them.

"I say we should return it to the wild."

"But what if it can't survive out there now eh?"

"What if it can't survive here either? We don't even know how to take care of it."

The debate ran back and forth for some time, until the calf began to stir, opening its eyes as the noise around it brought it out of its sleep. The calf sat up looking at the humans wearing uniforms surrounding him. No one in the room knew what to expect, but least of all was that the calf was just staring at them, partly in fear but mostly in awe at the number of people around it.

The sergeant sighed, "Well mounties, it's awake now so what do you think we should do?"

"Mon-ty eh?" everyone stared at the moose calf, which had just spoken. The calf giggled and crawled over to a ceremonial mounty hat which he pulled onto his head.

"He seems more like a human to meeh," one constable said.

"Well, I suppose we'd better look after him, at least until we're certain of that. But we should give him a name then," someone else said.

"Since the Mackenzie brothers found him they should pick a name for him," the Sergeant said, turning to the two aforementioned siblings. Robert thought for a minute before suggesting.

"How does Maurice sound eh?"

"It sounds alright to me," Douglass said, yawning.

"Then Maurice Mackenzie it is. Now you two should go home and get some sleep."

It was odd at first, having the moose calf around the barracks, but as time went on Maurice adapted to life in the barracks as did the RCMP officers who lived there. The calf grew up and for the most part enjoyed his time living with them, learning the duties of the RCMP. Because of this he was essentially adopted by the mounties, and the "family" rotated as members of the RCMP were transferred around different places in Canada. Maurice didn't grow much, not physically anyways, and by the age of 4 he was only about 2 feet tall, however this was no cause for concern and his caretakers just assumed that this was natural for him.

The year Maurice turned 5 he was enrolled in elementary school. In kindergarten things went fairly well but as he progressed through the grades things became somewhat difficult as some of the meaner kids picked on him for his appearance, fortunately Maurice never retaliated and managed to weather several insults aimed at him persevering through school and making a few friends, however he rarely saw them outside of school.

One day when Maurice was 10 he was returning to the barracks after school in spring and found a two people he had never seen before talking with the current captain of the post. They were a man and a woman, the man had short brown hair and green eyes and was wearing a grey turtle neck and black jeans along with brown approach boots while the woman had somewhat short red hair and brown eyes and was wearing a casual pale green dress and yellow outdoor shoes. Both looked to be in their mid 40s.

"Thank you again for the donation Mr and Mrs Kitun," the Captain said, "You really are too generous eh."

"Nonsense, it's the least we can do considering how you work to keep this place safe," Mr Kitun said.

"Hello, are you the Kituns I've heard so much about," Maurice spoke up, drawing the attention of both people. Mrs Kitun smiled warmly at the moose and spoke up.

"Oh are you the moose called Maurice, that the mounties have been telling us about for the last few years."

"Yep," Maurice smiled, "How come I never met you before?"

"Because," the captain spoke up, "we didn't tell anyone about you until you were about to enrol in school, for your safety of course, and they usually came while you were at school, they just ran a bit late today."

"So, Maurice, how is school going for you," Mr Kitun asked.

"Not bad, people sometimes pick on me but I'm able to get good grades."

"I wish we could have a child like you," Mrs Kitun said a bit sadly.

"Can't you?" Maurice asked.

"Unfortunately no, son," Mr Kitun replied, "it's a medical thing and I don't want to go into details with someone as young as you." Mr Kitun checked his wristwatch and added, "We'd better get going now dear," he said to his wife.

"Of course, we hope to see more of you around here Maurice." The moose waved goodbye as the Kituns left.

"Those two are such nice people, they help out with the emergency services a lot, mostly with donations, because they can't have children."

"Why not?" Maurice asked.

"Mrs Kitun has endometriosis. It's a hereditary disease and can keep women from having children eh. But enough of that, anything interesting happen at School today?"

Five years later Maurice was still in school, but like most teenagers he was going through a rebellious phase, shirking activities outside of school, especially learning about things from the RCMP. He had grown bored of the lessons they taught him to the point of trying to avoid going back to the barracks until the absolute latest he could every day after school. This proved more difficult on weekends. It came to a head on one particular Saturday in March when Maurice was decidedly sick of listening to lectures about how to survive against nature's elements and left shortly after eating lunch to go for a walk, eventually ending up in the wooded area of a park just outside of town.

"Finally some time alone, between school and those the lame lessons those guys back at home always try to give my about nature I can't get any peace these days," Maurice had grown a bit since he was 10, he was now a little over 3 feet tall. Though it was only speculated at first it was now proven that physical developments of his native species would develop more slowly, as evidence by the short cylindrical nubs on the sides of his head which were the beginnings of his antlers; as they were only now starting to grow in it was believed that they would not grow cyclically like that of a normal moose but rather would grow to a certain length then just stay that long indefinitely, but that was just speculation.

Maurice was wearing a black t-shirt, jeans and a denim jacket which had a few tears in it from being worn so much, and he had a bottle of water and a hanky with him for practical purposed. The moose was relishing his freedom for the day as he walked among the trees, stopping briefly to take a drink from his water bottle. After a while, he heard some voices coming from nearby, they sounded like teenagers near to his age, he couldn't make out what they were saying so he followed the voices until he saw what was going on, a group of eight teenagers, 6 boys and 2 girls, who were from his school, they were all standing around a box of something in a clearing in the wooden area. As Maurice approached he stepped on a dry branch which alerted the teenagers to his presence. One of the boys, who seemed to be the leader, turned to greet him, Maurice recognized him as Johnny, a boy who was known a trouble maker in school general and was seen to be one of the "cool" kids. Two of his gang with him that day were Angela, his tough girlfriend, and his suck up lackey Thomas.

"Well, if it ain't the mounty's runty moose," he said with a note of challenge in his voice.

"Yeah, he's a real runty moose Johnny," Thomas sniggered.

"You tell 'em Johnny," Angela added, "you gonna rat us out to your guardians?"

"Not likely, I came here to get some peace from their insistence of my taking their lessons every weekend, I'm just here for some solitude from them," Maurice replied. He looked inquisitively at the box they were standing around, "what are you so excited about?"

"Fireworks," Johnny said said, pulling out a small cylindrical rocket with a conical top and a stick a the bottom, a couple other boys reaching in to pull out similar objects, "we figured we could set them off here without anyone ragging on us too much," he continued, setting the small rocket in the dirt, "anyone got a light."

"Yeah, I got a light Johnny," Thomas said, fiddling around in his jacket and pulling out a book of matches.

Maurice stayed back, somewhat interested, he shuffled around a bit as the first rocket launched off, flew up out into the open sky, and exploded in a display of color. The crunching under Maurice's feet wouldn't have caused most people to give it a second thought, but Maurice's upbringing caused a series of red flags to go up in his mind as the teenagers set up more fireworks to launch.

'_There hasn't been rain for a while and there's a lot of dry underbrush here,'_ he thought to himself, _'these conditions, they're perfect for a forest fire!'_ Maurice looked up to see Johnny about to light a dozen rockets.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Maurice spoke up in protest.

"What's a matter? Afraid of a little bottle rocket?" Johnny Mocked. He turned to the rest of his gang, "Hey, look at the scardy moose!"

"Yeah, he's a regular yella belly Johnny," Thomas added.

"Get lost runt!" Angela retorted, every member of the gang taunting Maurice as Johnny bent down to light the fireworks. Nine of the rockets flew up, but the three others flew into the undergrowth, the teens were too busy watching the effects to notice. But they did notice when three of the rockets overhead, flew off course and into the trees. By this time, the jets from the rockets had started a fire and the dry underbrush caused it to spread quickly. The smoke poured up quickly and the teenagers rushed to put it out, but the other three rockets had started the fire up in three nearby areas.

Within moments the wooded area of the park was on fire and the teenagers were scrambling to get out coughing all the time, Maurice couldn't help them or even call out, once the smoke has started covering the area he had, recalling what he had been told by the mounties, used the water from his bottle to wet his hanky and hold it up to his mouth, dropping low to avoid inhaling the toxic fumes. Maurice could do nothing but lie there, breathing carefully in order to stay alive.

It was about half an hour before the forest firefighters arrived and started searching for the survivors and putting the fires out systematically. Members of the RCMP had arrived as well, Maurice explained what had happened and he wasn't reprimanded to harshly. However news that came from one of the firefighters made him distraught.

"I found some teenagers in there, most of them are alright other than a few burns, but three of them are dead form a combination of burns and the toxicity of the smoke."

"Poor kids, have you identified them?" Maurice was virtually unharmed and didn't bother listening to the fighter's verdict as he sat on a fallen log and watched as the body's of Johnny, Angela, and Thomas were carried away on stretchers; he could barely look in the direction of the remaining five, one of whom glared at him and whispered something to his compatriots. The currently posted RCMP captain came over to him.

"Are you alright, Maurice?" he asked. The moose didn't answer, but said.

"I should have stopped them, now their dead because I didn't act fast enough." The captain stood by, not commenting on this. Maurice spoke up again, "Captain, I want to learn everything I can be taught by the Mounties about nature and what it can do, I don't want to see anyone else die because they were caught unaware by elements of nature," he stood up and faced the captain, "when I grow up I want to be part of the RCMP!" The captain was a bit startled by his declaration, considering how rebellious he had been lately.

"I hope you're serious about this Maurice, I don't want you backing out on this after saying something like that."

"Of course I'm serious. I want to make sure that I can protect people, both from crime and from the dangers of nature." The captain smiled.

"I'm glad to hear that, now let's get home, we still have a lot to teach you."

Maurice kept his word and over the next several years he kept learning everything he was taught, the memory of the forest fire serving as a constant reminder of his pledge over the years. School, however, became more difficult to endure as the remaining five members of Johnny's gang began to torment him verbally because of the events of that day, even spreading rumours about Maurice to the rest of the student body. The moose took what came in stride, ignoring most of the comments that were slung his way from other students, parents however learned the truth from the emergency services and remarks from them regarding Maurice were more positive.

Eventually once he'd finished school, taken the lessons at the barracks, and grown a full pair of antlers, Maurice officially joined the RCMP. The day he was officially made a member was probably the proudest moment of his life, he felt as though he was really doing something with his life now.

18 years following the incident he and the Mackenzie Brothers who had found him, and were currently posted back in Regina, received a call from the Kituns to come and see to something they had found on their way back into town. The now 33 year old Maurice, and the Mackenzie's drove to their house and were invited in cordially. Both of the Kituns were now in their winter years and Mr Kitun had to use a cane to walk properly.

"So, what exactly did you call us here for," Douglass asked.

"Yeah, there doesn't seem to be any crime around here eh," Maurice pointed out.

"Well, we said we found something we wanted to show you, here, follow me," Mrs Kitun led them to a small room, which looked like a children's room. There was a crib in the corner and when they looked inside, they were astounded.

"It's a fox," Robert said.

"But he looks like," Douglass said.

"Me," Maurice finished. Indeed it was an infant fox, coloured fiery red with a heart shaped nose and heart shaped pads on his hands. He was underneath blankets but they were sure he had the same pads on his feet. The fox kit was sleeping peacefully

"We found him on the way back into town, we called you to ask if you had any advice about him growing up."

"Growing up, you mean you're going to raise him?" Douglass was astounded.

"Aren't you two a bit old for this eh?" Maurice asked.

"Maybe, but we wanted a child for so long and we think this is a golden opportunity, it will help us feel that our lives are complete." Mrs Kitun said.

"Well," Robert said, "if he's anything like Maurice, he should grow up at the same pace as a human child."

"He won't go through yearly cycles either eh," Maurice added in, gesturing to his antlers, "these took a few years to grow in and they don't fall out only to re-grow each year."

"Thanks, we'll keep that in mind," Mr Kitun said.

"What are you going to call him?" Douglass asked.

"We were thinking of Alex, yes Alex Kitun," Mrs Kitun said.

"That's a good name, hope he grows up well," Robert said.

For the next five years Maurice would occasionally pay visits to the Kituns, watching the young fox Alex as he grew up and learned things from his grandparents (as when he could talk, Alex said it felt weird calling them his parents due to their age). The Fox had a short temper but whenever he was around his grandparents, he was usually smiling. A day came and Maurice decided to see Alex off on his first day to kindergarten, wearing his ceremonial RCMP uniform.

He found Alex waiting by the bus stop with his grandmother, wearing a brightly coloure backpack and carrying a tin lunchbox.

"Maurice!" the fox shouted happily, seeing the moose coming towards them.

"Hello Alex, how are ya doing eh?" the moose said.

"Good, this is my first day at school," Alex said.

"Well enjoy yourself. Though I must confess I came here for another reason, you see my first posting out of town begins tomorrow so I won't be able to see you for a long time Alex." Alex pouted.

"Aww, why do you have to go?"

"It's my duty eh. Don't worry Alex, I'll move back here once I get the chance, we'll see each other again, now give me a hug." Alex jumped at the moose and hugged him tightly, just as the school bus pulled up. Alex released Maurice and climbed aboard.

"Have a good day at school dear," Mrs Kitun said.

"Take care eh," Maurice added, Alex waved good-bye and climbed onto the bus.

"So you're really leaving?" Mrs Kitun asked.

"Yep, I just wanted to see the kit off before I leave," Maurice turned and walked away.

His tour of duty lasted seven years, Maurice found moving around a bit of a strain on him but he adapted. He travels took him to several places in Canada where he kept his vow from earlier in life, keeping people safe from crime and from the dangerous elements of natures. Once seven years had passed, he was able to get a permanent posting in Regina, when he returned he wanted to try and get in contact with the Kituns, but his work got in his way until one day.

Maurice was walking downtown, wearing his ceremonial uniform as he found he liked the appearance of the uniform. While he was walking around, he heard the sound of a scuffle, so he took off I the direction of the noise, finding that two people were fighting, unable to discern them other than that they were teenagers so he called for backup on his two-way radio and moved in to separate the two of them.

"Alright, settle down eh, you're both coming with me," he turned to see who one of the fighters was and was shocked.

"Alex?"

"Yeah what do you want Mounty?" the teenage fox snapped at him, not recognizing who it was straight away.


	7. Plans for the Road

Chapter 7: Plans for the Road

"And that was only a few months ago. I had to bring Alex into the station that day. Fortunately thanks to the young offender's act, he got off with probation under my care. He was only recently released," Maurice sighed sadly, "Alex was always a happy child when I knew him eh, and when I saw him he was almost always smiling, but since I came back to Regina I can't remember him smiling even once."

"Well that certainly is an amazing story, but why are you so interested in me?" Lloyd asked.

"When I first saw you, it was when you were fighting the Watery Card and it was like you were fighting the rampant forces of nature eh. It reminded me of the day of the forest fire. You were someone who was battling the out of control forces of nature eh, something I respect," Maurice leaned back. "If it doesn't trouble you, I'd like to go with you, if there really more Clow Cards like that I don't want people to be hurt by them." Lloyd blinked.

"Are you sure you want to come with me?" he asked.

"Of course, if I can help you in anyway to stop these violent aspects of nature then it will give me some peace of mind eh." By this time, Alex had finished with supper, and had overheard what had been said. Alex carried a big bowl of Penne Pasta to the table and set it down.

"If you're going, Maurice then you're not leaving me behind," he said sharply. Turning he walked back into the kitchen and returned carrying a bowl of Caesar Salad and some meatballs, with an old peanut butter jar full of parmesan cheese.

"Besides after that fight with the Watery Card you have to admit that you need my help."

"I will admit that you distracted the card long enough for me to capture it, but if I hadn't reacted as fast as I did you would have been hospitalized or worse," Lloyd pointed out.

"If that stupid stuffed animal can handle this then so can I," Alex retorted.

"Who are you, umph.." Lloyd jammed a hard candy that he had saved for this just this kind of situation in the beast's mouth.

"Let's not start an argument now, it's been a long day and if you two are coming with me then we need to get moving soon," Lloyd, said, a bit irritated.

"Now hold on eh, you should properly prepare yourself if you're going to go on foot," Maurice said, "tomorrow, after I've taken care of some person business, I'll help you to get the proper supplies for your journey eh." After that statement the four of them began eating. Alex was complimented on his cooking and Maurice told the two of them about some of the things he had done while in service to the RCMP. Lloyd paused for a moment to look at the setting sun.

'_I'll be moving out again soon,'_ he thought to himself, _'but this time, I won't be going alone.'_ The bear smiled and continued eating, happy to be in the company of such good friends.

A/N just to clarify, Maurice technically belongs to Teacher Bear while Alex and Lloyd are my creations. Though Teacher Bear has said to me that she considers Maurice a team effort and I thank her for that.


End file.
